The Justice Department has issued federal grand jury subpoenas to California election officials as part of a criminal investigation into alleged noncitizen voting, ordering three Los Angeles County employees to testify one day after the November 3 midterm elections.
The subpoenas, dated October 21 and 24, 2026, seek voter records, communications with federal authorities and information about efforts to prevent unlawful voting. Federal prosecutors have also demanded records from election offices in Orange, Santa Clara and San Diego counties.
In Orange County, federal agents delivered another subpoena Thursday requesting unredacted records concerning suspected noncitizen voters. Earlier demands sought registration information, voting histories and details about how county officials identify potentially ineligible voters.
A letter accompanying one Los Angeles County subpoena identifies Homeland Security Investigations as the agency conducting the criminal probe. Prosecutors have not announced charges against the employees, and receiving a subpoena does not establish that a person is suspected of wrongdoing.
The demands come one day after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the Trump administration's attempt to force California to separate approximately 20,000 ballots associated with registered voters federal authorities suspect are noncitizens.
In his October 28 ruling, Carter warned Justice Department officials to stop threatening election workers with criminal prosecution over their handling of voter records. Federal prosecutors had previously cautioned local officials that knowingly processing ballots cast by noncitizens could expose them to criminal liability.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan criticized the federal government's approach, calling it "confrontational" and "adversarial."
"Threats and intimidation have no place in elections," Logan said, pledging to protect county employees while continuing voting operations.
The Justice Department defended its criminal investigative authority, pointing to Carter's acknowledgment that unlawful voting can be prosecuted. A department spokesperson said criminal proceedings were an appropriate response to suspected violations, even as prosecutors continued pursuing relief in the separate civil lawsuit.
That lawsuit, filed October 15, accused California of maintaining more than 20,000 likely noncitizens on its voter rolls. Federal officials sought to prevent ballots associated with those individuals from being counted until their eligibility could be verified.
California officials challenged the government's evidence, citing preliminary reviews that identified U.S. citizens, people absent from voter rolls and records containing insufficient information to determine citizenship status.
Carter found that separating the ballots so close to Election Day risked excluding eligible voters and disrupting election operations. His ruling also addressed federal restrictions on systematic voter removals within 90 days of an election under the National Voter Registration Act.
More than 500,000 ballots had already been processed in Los Angeles County, where election procedures protect voter secrecy by preventing officials from tracing processed ballots back to individual voters.
The Justice Department has appealed Carter's ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing that continued ballot processing could undermine its request to exclude votes cast by suspected noncitizens.
Carter has appointed Daniel B. Garrie as a special master to examine the disputed voter information before further proceedings.
The three Los Angeles County employees are scheduled to appear before a federal grand jury on November 4. Carter will consider the government's renewed request to block the disputed ballots from being counted following a November 13 evidentiary hearing.
